Frank Giordano, 69

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Frank P. Giordano, 69, of Huguenot, a former teacher at New Dorp High School and an official with the United Federation of Teachers, died Monday in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.

Born in Manhattan, Mr. Giordano lived there for 25 years before moving to Staten Island in 1969.

He graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. He took his undergraduate degree from St. Francis College, Brooklyn, and obtained a master's degree from New York University.

Mr. Giordano worked for the United Federation of Teachers, where he became deputy director of violence prevention and school safety. He also taught history at New Dorp High School for 23 years. He retired at the age of 62.

In his leisure time, he visited the gym. He enjoyed cooking, growing roses and playing cards with friends at the JCC. He particularly liked traveling the world, including Asia and Egypt. He was fond of visiting Atlantic City.

"He was very charismatic and anyone who met him would fall in love with him," said his daughter, Christy Giordano-Corr. "He was the strongest man I know. He fought so many illnesses and never gave up."

The funeral will be Thursday from the John Vincent Scalia Home for Funerals, Eltingville, with a mass at 11 a.m. in Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, Huguenot. Burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.